italy twenty-thirteen | venice

get ready.... 'cause this post is going to take you through one full day of our weekend in Venice!!

 but don't worry, there aren't AS many pictures;) 

the very first image (on the left) is looking at the apartment building where we stayed.

 other than the construction netting in front of it, the building was cute! 

and as you can see, there was a cafe literally right out our front door! 

we took advantage of that and ate our morning espresso & pastry

 next to the gentleman enjoying his pipe & morning paper.

first thing on our to-do list that morning was to explore san marco 

in the day time (we had stayed until midnight the night before enjoying the live orchestras), 

tour the Basilica & go to the top of the campania (bell tower).

 then after picking up a quick bite to eat, we met up with

 a few of the bride/groom's friends  who were in town for the wedding

 and the groom's cousin gave us a fabulous tour around venice, 

giving us a fairly good grasp on the history of the island and how it was built. 

and he showed us one of the best gelato places!!!  (the good ones are hard to find b/c there are 

so many unauthentic places around to lure the tourists who don't know better). 

after enjoying an afternoon espresso with now friends,

 we all parted ways to get ready for the evening.

 i met up with the bride & groom and we trecked around venice for

 an hour doing a super fun casual session and then we met up with

 their friends back at the hotel for prosecco & hors de oeuvres. 

after a while, we all walked over to one of the local restaurants and had dinner together-- so fun!

 and we may have just had gelato twice in one day... but shhhh, who's telling?! 

plus, we were walking/standing the majority of everyday so we  needed it;) 

i was on the job as a wedding photographer the entire next day so no personal photos...

 up next will be when we headed back to rome monday morning